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UK and Ireland added to the United States travel ban

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The United States Government has just announced that the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland will be added to the United States travel ban.

Non-US passport holders / non-US residents will not be allowed to enter the United States if they have been in the UK or Ireland within the last 14 days.

The ban will kick in at 4am GMT on Tuesday (midnight Monday US EST).

If you wish to travel to the United States, you need to get yourself onto a plane during Sunday or Monday to land before midnight Monday EST.

US citizens and their immediate family members, as well as Green Card holders and holders of certain types of visa, are not impacted by this ban.

However, they will only be allowed to fly to 13 specific airports where they will be screened on entry and, if necessary, sent to a quarantine centre near the airport.

The ban will run until 11th April alongside the Schengen Zone ban.

That said, given the current estimates for coronavirus infections, it seems very unlikely that the ban will be lifted until after the peak of infections in May or June.

This is, clearly, a disaster for British Airways and especially Virgin Atlantic.  It is very easy to see Virgin Atlantic grounding its entire fleet now.  It is also possible that we could now see cuts of nearer 75% than the expected 50% to the British Airways network (by passenger volume) next week.

It is not certain that ALL British Airways and Virgin Atlantic flights to the US will be cut.  There will be US citizens to return home and cargo will still need to be shipped.  The vast majority of services will be dropped, with a virtual 100% certainty of cancellations where the destination is not one of the 13 quarantine airports.

What will happen to my British Airways flight to the USA?

BA has deleted the webpage which showed travel agent guidance in real time.  The BA Travel Trade website is now the best place for accurate information.

REFUNDS ARE NOT ALLOWED.  You can, however, ask for a 1-year BA travel voucher under the ‘Book With Confidence’ refund policy which we outlined here.

For anyone with a ticket for travel up to 11th April, you can rebook onto a flight between 12th April and 1st August.

There are no change fees but you must pay any fare difference.  You are allowed to change your destination airport if you wish.

However …. don’t take this policy too seriously.  If your flight is cancelled, which is likely to happen for the vast majority of people, you are legally entitled to a full cash refund.  You need to hang on for a few days until British Airways decides which flights will be cut.

Category

British Airways and Avios, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (389)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Carl says:
    14 Mar14 March 23:42

    I’ve got a holiday booked to California starting on 26th April, obviously at the moment it’s guess work as to whether it will even be possible to go, it’s booked on a 2-4-1 so worst case scenario I lose the small cancellation fee, but hoping BA decide to cancel it themselves at some point, still got approx 1 year left on the 2-4-1 voucher so should be good to use again without needing an extension. I’ve also got car hire booked through BA with Avis, this was booked separately to the flight, so not sure on cancellation policy for this.

    Anyway, point of this is that if everything gets cancelled inc hotels and flights then my Amex is going to be sitting with about £3.5k in credit, it’s not the end of the world as I will eventually spend it all, but does anyone know if Amex will transfer the balance to my bank account?

    • Jamie says:
      14 Mar14 March 23:47

      Ask them?

    • David says:
      14 Mar14 March 23:53

      Yes Amex will.transfer to your acc. Even though.its a lot. They transferred £400 of my credit to my debit acc.

    • Jon says:
      15 Mar15 March 06:17

      Possibly also worth knowing that Amex will (usually – can occasionally take a couple of tries) happilty send refunds through to cancelled cards, rather than bouncing them back to the sender – so if you’d rather not have the £3.5k’s worth of MR points / miles etc clawed back, one option might be to cancel the card before the refund gets sent to it. You can then call Amex to have the refunded balance transferred to your bank account. Obviously that may or may not work for you depending on whether you actually need the card or can happily replace it with a different Amex or whatever… 🙂 I’ve found it generally a good idea not to remove cancelled cards from my Amex app until long after I’m sure there are no more refunds coming through to them 😉

    • Ian says:
      15 Mar15 March 07:41

      They do indeed.

      They credited £800 in cancelled award fees back to my bank account yesterday.

    • Carl says:
      15 Mar15 March 10:00

      Thanks for the replies.

      Jon: Interesting thought there about the avios being clawed back and cancelling the card, thanks for the tip.

  • Relaxo says:
    15 Mar15 March 03:28

    I have a prepaid stay at Melia white house London end of March for a now cancelled event. The hotel (and Melia group) have made it clear they won’t be refunding. Is Amex Platinum insurance paying out for cancelled hotel stays? Transaction was non-amex so I’m thinking I might be stuffed here 🙁

    • meta says:
      15 Mar15 March 03:39

      Double check full terms for Amex Plat. I think I remember I saw something in there that it covers also business trips. I don’t know how long you have the card, but I’m still on the Axa one. Chubb might have different terms. Rob had a link to those in one of the articles in the last 2-3 days.

  • Michael C says:
    15 Mar15 March 06:35

    Pretty sure re.the schools issue that UK will “hang on” till Friday, when a lot of schools break up anyway.

    • Simon says:
      15 Mar15 March 07:06

      Surrey (state) schools have three weeks to go. Our school’s plan is to close those classes where the teacher can’t be there (due to isolation/illness) but otherwise remain open.

  • Emily says:
    15 Mar15 March 06:36

    Does anyone know what certain visas are not impacted?

  • Hamish says:
    15 Mar15 March 07:49

    I’m currently in San Francisco and supposed to be flying back to LHR on Thursday with a stopover in NYC.

    I booked through Expedia but the numptys haven’t answered the phone in 3 days.

    Booked on BA codeshare with AA.

    Will I be able to reschedule and come home early?

    Staying at IC San Fran with points and free night stay, but should be able to recover that.

    • Luckyjim says:
      15 Mar15 March 08:22

      Why come back early?

    • Alex Sm says:
      15 Mar15 March 09:24

      Who are “numptys”?

      • Tom says:
        15 Mar15 March 15:15

        I guess the Expedia ‘numpties’ didn’t predict the current demand on their call centre… if only you’d told them…

      • Bagoly says:
        15 Mar15 March 15:38

        Are you asking because your Scots isn’t fluent, or are you pointing out the poor Scots grammar? 🙂

    • Paul says:
      15 Mar15 March 09:47

      Harsh to call Expedia numpty’s for “not answering the phone”. You make it sound like their staff are sat around intentionally ignoring you. We’re seeing an unprecedented level of flight cancellations, as well as huge uncertainties and ever changing polices from both governments and airlines around the world, which the travel agencies are having to contend with. I’m sure they’re trying.

    • Amit says:
      15 Mar15 March 10:46

      If you have taken the first flight, as far as I’m aware I think that BA/AA will be able to make changes. Not saying it will be any easier to get through to them. My friend is currently in a similar position

      • Athruna says:
        15 Mar15 March 12:55

        If you can find the booking code, and you know whether the flight is operated by AA or BA, then try going directly to the booking with AA/BA though the AA/BA website. If your return flight has been cancelled you should have the option on there to rebook.

        This happened to us. We were expected to return to London from Phoenix airport on Monday 23rd March, but because this isn’t one of the “approved” airports, no one can fly to here from the UK as of Tuesday, so all flights between London and Phoenix have been cancelled. We were able to rebook on the AA website (our flights were booked on the BA website but for an AA operated flight) to go via Chicago, where they’re still running flights to.

        Of course, all subject to domestic US travel being restricted in some way over the next week…

    • Lady London says:
      15 Mar15 March 12:52

      For the sake of 3 days you had provisioned to stay away for anyway, why do you want to clog call centre lines to come back early? Others are likely to be in a more urgent or worse situation.

      If you were coming home to do a last shop for an elderly relative with cardiovascular or lung problems to make sure they can self-isolate then I might have more sympathy.

      Quite apart from your booking being expensive or impossible to change since you’ve already flown the outbound anyway.

  • Joan says:
    15 Mar15 March 10:02

    O/T but I’m using seat soy for the first time and looking for First Class from London to Abu Dhabi in October and Business return . The website says there are lots but when I look in BA there is nothing . Am I doing something wrong ? ☹️

    • Joan says:
      15 Mar15 March 10:02

      Seat spy I mean 😁

    • Anna says:
      15 Mar15 March 10:14

      Joan there has been a long standing glitch with F availability on Seatspy (or even Seat soy!) and Reward flight Finder so you need to check with BA for your dates.

      • Joan says:
        15 Mar15 March 10:18

        Thank you Anna – I thought it looked too good to be true ! 😞 xx

        • Anna says:
          15 Mar15 March 10:21

          I’d be surprised if you didn’t find something at some point though, unless you’re travelling at half term.

          • Joan says:
            15 Mar15 March 10:27

            Thanks I’ll keep looking – I booked flights for December but not I’m thinking it won’t be hot enough for the beach then so am Re thinking for October 😁

          • Anna says:
            15 Mar15 March 11:12

            Apparently it often hits 30 degrees in November so that might be a good time to visit just after the half term holiday crowd (like Rob & family!) leave.

  • Anna says:
    15 Mar15 March 10:20

    Well it looks less and less likely that my retirement trip to the US and/or Caribbean will be going ahead. The silver lining is that we now will have plenty of spare cash to spend in the UK economy over Easter. Thinking of doing a few hotel stays to help accrue points and status and cheer myself up really! Concentrating on the north of England and Scotland (sadly there doesn’t seem to be IC Ambassador award night availability at The George), what are people’s recommendations for Hilton, Bonvoy and IHG? We like fine dining and spa treatments, walking and stunning scenery (hence Scotland, especially Perthshire).

    • Jeff says:
      15 Mar15 March 10:39

      “ The silver lining is that we now will have plenty of spare cash to spend in the UK economy over Easter.”

      There won’t be many places that will actually be open for you to spend your cash, other than supermarkets

      • Anna says:
        15 Mar15 March 11:08

        Everywhere seems to be taking bookings at the moment but thanks for the unhelpful replies. And if everyone stops spending money the economy really will be scuppered.

        • Tyna says:
          15 Mar15 March 11:15

          Give it a week. Our planning is about 4 weeks beyond everyone else. Soon hotels will be closed, and many commandeered.

        • xcalx says:
          15 Mar15 March 11:16

          Have some comments been removed?

          Spa hotels that guests love in Perthshire

          Macdonald Loch Rannoch Hotel & Resort. Spa Hotel in Kinloch Rannoch. …
          Crieff Hydro. Spa Hotel in Crieff. …
          The Pitlochry Hydro Hotel. Spa Hotel in Pitlochry. …
          Duchally Country Estate – a CLC World Resort. Spa Hotel in Auchterarder. …
          Moness Resort. …
          The Atholl Palace. …

        • Spursdebs says:
          15 Mar15 March 11:54

          I’ve got a few weekends booked up only 45 mins from home, just so I can read a book in peace! My brother got several staycations booked in the U.K. nothing been cancelled yet.

          • Anna says:
            15 Mar15 March 12:58

            Good to hear Debs after you’ve cancelled your big Japan trip. I’ll happy sit and read books!

        • JRC says:
          15 Mar15 March 13:08

          It’s not unhelpful- I think everyone needs to adjust their expectations big time. Spending at Easter if every restaurant and social area is shut down?? And even if there is no shutdown, with the expected acceleration in cases there won’t be any staff to serve you anyway.

        • Paul says:
          15 Mar15 March 20:37

          BA still taking bookings Anna doesn’t mean your going anywhere. I get this is a miles and points site but the idea that you would talk about splashing the cash over Easter when many people are worried about being sick and the health of their families Is insensitive.

    • Tone says:
      15 Mar15 March 10:45

      “The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.” – A Bartlett

      • Vit says:
        15 Mar15 March 11:05

        👍👍👍

      • Lady London says:
        15 Mar15 March 23:40

        We do now. Or will soon.
        My worry is that Boris does too, even though the NHS does not seem to have enough intensive care beds to support the percentage of people other countries have taught us are especially in need of it

    • Sandra B says:
      15 Mar15 March 11:07

      Fonab Castle Pitlochry. Not in any group as far as I know but might tick your box .https://www.fonabcastlehotel.com/

    • Ken says:
      15 Mar15 March 11:50

      Good on you.

      The idea by another poster that hotels will be commandeered is risible.

      • Jeff says:
        15 Mar15 March 12:13

        “ The idea by another poster that hotels will be commandeered is risible.”

        This already happened to the holiday inn (?) near Heathrow a few weeks ago back when the virus was mainly a problem for China and Italy

        • Anna says:
          15 Mar15 March 12:57

          Well if they are, they are. Not planning to make any definite arrangements until 2-3 days before anyway as everything’s moving so fast. It’s just supposed a bit of fun to distract folk temporarily!

        • Ken says:
          15 Mar15 March 14:08

          On any kind of mass scale, it is risible.

          To what purpose? No one will be travelling.
          In the worst case people will be sadly left to die at home.

          • Jeff says:
            15 Mar15 March 22:42

            “ Earlier, Mr Hancock told the BBC that leading British manufacturers are being asked to help produce vital medical equipment, such as ventilators, to help with an expected surge in demand. Hotels could also be converted into makeshift hospital”

        • mvcvz says:
          15 Mar15 March 16:28

          How do you know it was commandeered rather than, for example, volunteered or a simple contractual agreement entered into?

          • Lady London says:
            15 Mar15 March 23:43

            In the case of the Ariel I never assumed it was anything but a contractual arrangement. Actually the Edwardian is in a similar location and would have greater capacity.

    • Lady London says:
      15 Mar15 March 13:24

      You could always not retire? 🙂

      • Anna says:
        15 Mar15 March 14:03

        Too late LL, I’ve signed the forms!

        • Liz says:
          15 Mar15 March 15:06

          I’ve just been to B&Q and bought loads of fence paint and garage door paint – jobs I hate to do and keep putting off but have no excuse now this Spring! At least the outside of the house and garden will look good this year! Time for people to do all those tasks they keep putting off – go stock up on DIY supplies before they close the non essential shops.

          • Genghis says:
            15 Mar15 March 15:42

            +1. Already stocked up on food so went to the garden centre yesterday. We’re now on two weeks in office, two work from home, all travel banned, so at least I’ll have another 10 hours or so a week available time when I’m wfh.

          • Lyn says:
            15 Mar15 March 15:51

            Thank you Liz and Genghis for your lovely positive examples of keeping things in perspective and making the best of the situation.

          • Anna says:
            15 Mar15 March 18:31

            Good idea and supporting the local economy. I’ve arranged to do a big shop for the local food bank this week as they are suffering quite badly and there is a lot of deprivation where I live. If we don’t go away my OH will be consoling himself in B & Q as well!

          • Paul says:
            15 Mar15 March 20:39

            +1

          • Polly says:
            15 Mar15 March 23:54

            Can’t wait to get out our pressure washer. Large patio and drive to be done. Skipped last year. And to paint white garden furniture. Must order patio cement filler pronto. Very rewarding work. No thinking required…that’s a week covered.

          • Princess says:
            16 Mar16 March 07:06

            Ahahah!!! We have the some plan! We have started already this week end painting the kitchen! Let’s make good use of home time

    • Secret Squirrel says:
      15 Mar15 March 14:03

      So you think BA Caribbean flights will be cancelled next?
      I’m not sure if BA would cancel these routes as premium leisure but if the destination countries ban UK visitors then nothing BA can do!

      • Rob says:
        15 Mar15 March 15:05

        Jamaica is already closed.

        • Anna says:
          15 Mar15 March 18:35

          Yes some islands now finding they have their first cases of covid-19 transmitted by infected cruise passengers and other European/US visitors. Media reporting some pretty shocking tactics by cruise companies to try and strong arm small nations which depend on tourism into allowing ships to dock even though there are health concerns.

  • xcalx says:
    15 Mar15 March 10:47

    A big thumbs up to all the NHS staff who are coming out of retierment to help the cause.

    • Rob says:
      15 Mar15 March 11:21

      None are, from what I read. They are not trained on current kit and licensing has lapsed.

      • Amit says:
        15 Mar15 March 11:33

        And they may be in the higher risk groups too

      • Bazza says:
        15 Mar15 March 15:39

        They may have retired from front line – it doesn’t mean they are not still qualified nurses.

        • Anna says:
          15 Mar15 March 18:37

          Nurses have to complete regular training in their specialist areas to retain their registration and so be able to practice. I don’t know if the government has plans to waive this (which could be dangerous), or fast track the relevant training.

          • Jill (Kinkell) says:
            15 Mar15 March 23:17

            I’m a retired DH and senior clinical ITU physio. Lapsed registration ( off register as soon as Left!) No way am I going back..

    • Anna says:
      15 Mar15 March 13:01

      It would be good to think that this might galvanise the government into investing in training the nurses and doctors of the future but I’m not holding my breath!

    • Paul says:
      15 Mar15 March 20:41

      Not gonna happen. The entire idea was kicked into touch within hours of it being suggested

    • Harry T says:
      16 Mar16 March 03:20

      Whilst I appreciate the sentiment, anyone who hasn’t worked in the health service for even a few years is likely to need substantive retraining, considering changes in equipment and protocols. There is much greater capacity to be utilised in the private sector and in medical specialties that don’t normally work “front of house”.

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